FARMERS' REGISTER— EXPERIMENTS IN FEEDING. 



165 



acres — partly by itself, and more extensively as a 

 mixture with ruta baga and potatoes, in feeding- 

 cattle. Having been in the practice of cultivating 

 annually from one to three acres of mangel-wurtzel 

 for ten or twelve years past, during which I had 

 read and heard much on the subject of its value, 

 compared with turnips and potatoes, and observing 

 that the Highland Society were making this an 

 object of interest, I resolved to attempt something 

 Avhich would satisly myself upon a subject which 

 I considered of importance ; and with the intention 

 also of communicating to the Highland Society the 

 results of my experiment, should I be able to de- 

 duce any thing seemingly useful from it. With 

 this end in view, I set about planting three Scotch 

 acres of good, dry, free land, with mangel-wurtzel 

 of the red sort, six pounds to the acre. The land 

 had been previously occupied by a crop of oats after 

 hay, upon which a full dressing of sea-weed was 

 laid. It was deeply ploughed in autumn, and got 

 two spring furrows, the last across. On the after- 

 noon of the 16th of May, I began planting the seed 

 in the following manner : — I'he land was ridged 

 in the same way as for turnip, and in the drills 

 were spread from eighteen to twenty tons of good 

 farm yard dung. Immediately upon the dung be- 

 ing covered by the plough, the drill barrow was 

 regulated so that its coulters should leave an open 

 cut of about two and a half inches deep. Into this 

 the seed (which had been steeped in lime water a 

 week before) was put, at a foot distance. Much 

 attention ought to be paid to putting in the seed. 

 The length of the drill being measured, the women 

 who are to plant should have equal shares of the 

 distance laid otf, the shorter the stretches the bet- 

 ter, as a plain roller should instantly follow to 

 close in the earth above the seed, which ought to 

 have been pressed into the bottom of the cut by the 

 thumb of the planter. I repeat, that without 

 strict attention to this, there is much chance of 

 having an unequal braird. It is true the roots 

 transplant like a cabbage, but I prefer the plants 

 found in the seed row at first ; indeed a complete 

 justification of this opinion was afforded in the pre- 

 sent instance. On the 16th, while the laborers 

 were engaged in the work, I attended closely to 

 them, but business calling me from home on the 

 morning of the 17th, I gave strict charge to a con- 

 fidential man that he should see the work perform- 

 ed with the same precision. Notwithstanding this 

 injunction, there were many more blanks in the 

 one acre planted by him, than were in the two 

 others. Upon these blanks being filled up, the 

 plants put in were watered with about fifteen 

 puncheons from a cess-pool into which the wash- 

 ings of the dung-pits run. It was applied in about 

 equal shares two separate afternoons, and a hole 

 having been first made by the dibble near to the 

 plant, it received and retained a quantity of the 

 liquid until it was gradually absorbed. Having 

 so minutely observed upon this part of the process, 

 I shall only mention, that the crop should be 

 ploughed and hoed in a manner very similar to a 

 drilled crop of turnips, — and this is now generally 

 understood throughout Scotland. In this way did 

 I proceed, and with such management the crop 

 was distinguished by uncommon luxuriance. 

 Seeing about the beginning of August that a 



food many of the plants were running to seed, I 

 ad them drawn and given daily as the food of 

 two bulls which were confined in the house. To- 



wards the end of harvest I began to take off the 

 outside leaves and give them to the milch cows, 

 by which I rather think the growth of the roots 

 was checked. The leaves beginning to fade 

 about the 1st of October, I daily cut completely 

 over a regular portion of them, which were given 

 to cows and young sheep promiscuously. On the 

 2nd of November, I sent a portion of the leaves to 

 be weighed, and the land having been previously 

 measured, I found the weight of leaves per acre, 

 to be 10^ tons. We next proceeded to weigh a por- 

 tion of the roots, which gave a return of twenty 

 five tons 1 cwt. The crop was now taken up by 

 the plough, and stored in separate acres with per- 

 fect exactness. 



But I must here attempt more distinctly to bring 

 into view the object sought for, and the manner 

 of obtahiing it, although I am aware that a detail 

 of facts and circumstances, drawn up by one so 

 little accustomed to write as 1 am, is not likely 

 to be satisfactory. The object sought for by me, 

 then, was the knowledge whether three acres of 

 land produce in beef would be the greatest from a 

 crop of Swedish turnips, of mangel-wurtzel, or of 

 potatoes. To attain this knowledge, I caused a 

 surveyor to lay off five acres of Swedish turnips, 

 two acres of mangel-wurtzel, and two of potatoes. 

 It has been already slated that the mangel-wurtzel 

 produced twenty five tons; and by the same steel- 

 yard, the weight per acre of Swedish turnips was 

 twenty eight tons ; while the produce of potatoes 

 per acre was 73 balls of 4 cwt. each, or fourteen 

 tons twelve cwt : all of which I think very full 

 crops. 



The produce being stored in three separate lots, 

 I tied up twenty one cattle of six quarters old, 

 bred by myself, seven of which, designated No. 1, 

 were put to consume one acre of Swedish turnips, 

 one acre of mangel-wurtzel, and one acre of pota- 

 toes. [The next seven, (forming lot No. 2) were( 

 to consume one acre of potatoes and two of Swedish 

 turnips.*] The remaining seven designated as 

 No. 3, were to consume two acres of Swedish tur-^ 

 nips, and one acre of mangel-wurtzel. The whole 

 of the lots were at first allowed a few distiller's 

 grains, and a little straw throughout. I should 

 here remark, that only about one half of the ruta 

 baga was taken up and stored at first; and the 

 whole of tiie mangel-wuftzel was stored in an un-r 

 trimmed state. 



It is worthy of notice, that the situation to be 

 chosen for storing is of great consequence. I had 

 the mangel-wurtzel intended for the feeding stock 

 put up in separate acres, about forty feet from the 

 feeding shed, which protected the store from the 

 prevailing west wind. The other acre's produce, 

 set apart for the milch cows, was built up in a 

 separate heap, the same width at bottom as the 

 other lots (seven feet ;) but from exposure, having 

 only a moderate covering of straw or thatch, the 

 roots upon the west side, towards the month of 

 March, lost their juices, and I think their feeding 

 quality. In other years, I have seen loss occasion- 

 ed by too great a body of roots being heaped to- 

 gether, when they fermented and spoiled. 



In following out this experiment, I have taken 

 up an opinion, that upon good land, in an early 



* The sentence in brackets is not in our copy, (for 

 which we are indebted to the Genesee Farmer,) but is 

 required evidently by the context. — [Ed. Farm. Reg. 



